Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and Don't Ever Apologize. It's a Sign of Weakness[*]
The AP reports that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "won't apologize for calling homosexuality immoral" in an interview yesterday with the Chicago Tribune:
Pace was asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage in homosexual acts.
Pace said he supports the policy, which became law in 1994 and prohibits commanders from asking about a person's sexual orientation.
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts," Pace was quoted as saying in the newspaper interview. "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."…
"As an individual, I would not want (acceptance of gay behavior) to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else's wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior," he said.
Pace didn't or wouldn't respond to a 2005 Government Accountability Report which found that 10,000 members of the military, including 750 whose specialities were "critical" to the war on terror, have been cashiered since Don't Ask, Don't Tell went into effect. Nor, apparently, did he comment on a December 2006 Zogby poll which found that almost three-quarters of military folks were "comfortable" serving with gays and lesbians. More on that here.
The AP article ends by noting that
John Shalikashvili, the retired Army general who was Joint Chiefs chairman when the policy was adopted, said in January that he has changed his mind on the issue since meeting with gay servicemen.
"These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers," Shalikashvili wrote in a newspaper opinion piece.
[*]: Headline allusion explained. Scroll down about 14 exchanges.
